So says the great evaluators inside the Maloof brain trust.
The team’s uncertain status in remaining in Sacramento could be causing a ripple effect here, as well. The Maloofs have long since targeted Cousins as the prized asset of their organization and have been extremely reluctant to trade him thus far. According to people with knowledge of the situation, the Maloofs continue to discuss their preferred option of relocation with several cities and have let it be known in all the appropriate circles that bidding for the unlikely sale of the club should begin at an astounding $500 million.
The last NBA sale, with the Memphis Grizzlies in October, went for a reported $377 million. Prior to that, the New Orleans Hornets reportedly were sold for $338 million. The Golden State Warriors were sold for a league-record $450 million in July 2010. But the Maloofs, who have consistently said they don’t want to sell, are confident they could reach that $500 million figure because of the potential mobility of the franchise — the Kings can get out of their lease at Sleep Train Arena at any time.
Are they a little high?
Sounds like a lot of money for a property they can’t afford to even maintain.
There would have to be some way to cap that, maybe with relocation costs.
Might be cheaper to buy the Bobcats, and buy your way out of that arena deal.
Discuss.
I think we are all just burned out on speculating on other people’s franchises. Let just enjoy the ride and not do to other cities what OKC did to us. Lets make it our new years resolution!
Sonicsman are you saying you would rather Chris wait for an expansion franchise to be had? Who knows if that will happen. We have to go with what we know. The Kings are done in Sacramento. The Maloofs have burned way too many bridges there with the city and fans to work something out. They are unwilling to pony up any of their (non-existent) money towards a new arena in the railyards. They are looking at moving the team without any approval from the league; they are desperate. I haven’t read of anyone local willing to step up and contribute for either the arena or buying the team recently to keep the team in Sac…
Chris will never be like Clay Bennett, period. Everyone knows his intentions going in, unlike Clay, who postured the “good faith effort” spiel time and time again. If you are suggesting we’re like OKC cause we’re getting out team from another city, I would move past that thought. The Kings are gone anyway and the league has set this tone now that any team can be moved. If Kings fans want to be mad, they can be mad at the Maloofs for running their franchise into the ground.
That probably sounds a bit cold, but I’ve about had it with the Sac situation. It’s time for the Maloofs to sh*t or get off the pot.
“That probably sounds a bit cold, but I’ve about had it with the Sac situation. It’s time for the Maloofs to sh*t or get off the pot.”
Lol. Thanks for loading me up with that image.
No problem Paul, anytime!
$500 million clams. Out of their minds? Or are they savvy as hell, knowing that there are several parties very interested in a team?
Just look at who they are negotiating with… Hansen has to be among the best. His desire is unfathomable but his patience similarly huge. Kings have got to be the only offer on the table for the next few years, so perhaps he just waits patiently until they A) fall apart and end up selling for a reasonable amount B) find a different buyer willing to pay this ridiculous amount.
Factor in the relocation fee, plus any arena costs for a potential buyer, and you have a very expensive proposition for a team that really sucks. IMO the math doesn’t pencil.
If the league granted two expansion franchises, one to Seattle, and the other to any other market in the Western Hemisphere (Canada, Mexico, St. Louis) at a cost of $500 million, then what would the Kings be worth (with the relocation fee)?
What is the value of the Kings as time goes on and they bleed money?
Time, long term, short term, is not on their side.
I still say that the best bet is for the VB longshot to come to fruition. That puts 16 teams in the EC and only 14 in the west. Instead of realigning, you just give Sac and Seattle expansion teams to even it out to 16 and 16. Sacramento loses the Maloofs and gains someone who will follow through with the Railyards plan then while Seattle doesn’t have to take someone else’s team.
would never ever ever ever happen
I still feel as I have for some time. The Kings are coming to Seattle. Some how, some way.
if SAC loses Kings I don’t see them getting a team back.
that’s why I think Stern has given SAC so much time. if the kings leave, there wont likely be another team there.
what about the Bucks? there have been rumors about them being for sale since the lockout.
I found this on Google from like about 1.5 weeks ago.
http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/blog/2012/12/espn-billionaire-heisley-targets.html
@jenn_gp no it is not that I would rather have one over the other. What I am saying is let not speculate on what will happen. If Hansen buys the Kings and moves them (which we know he would) then that is that, but lets be graceful to the folks of Sacramento unlike OKC was with us. On the day that the settlement was announced I received an email from Graham Bennett the son of Clay. It simply said “WE have Won!” It was the most heartless email I ever received. It was like a dagger in the heart and OKC was enjoying every moment of it!! I don’t want to be those fans.
@Taylor Made: The Bucks just signed a six year lease extension at the Bradley Center and are working on getting a new building. They could be in play in Six years but I imagine Seattle will have a team by then so I doubt they are part of the equation.
The Maloofs wouldn’t be floating a number out there if there weren’t offers on the table.
“Let just enjoy the ride and not do to other cities what OKC did to us.”
” lets be graceful to the folks of Sacramento unlike OKC was with us.”
Not the same situation. Hansen isn’t going to be going into a purchase situation saying one thing and doing another. Bennett screwed up because he spent months playing a charade with his public comments.
Uninformed idiots will always try to lord it over other fans; it can’t be stopped. That doesn’t make talking about possibilities distasteful though. It is what it is.
“I still say that the best bet is for the VB longshot to come to fruition. That puts 16 teams in the EC and only 14 in the west. Instead of realigning, you just give Sac and Seattle expansion teams to even it out to 16 and 16. ”
Only two small problems with your theory. 1) Virginia Beach doesn’t have the matching funds to build an arena. 2) Expansion is not going to happen and sure as hell not going to happen in Sacramento. NBA owners are not about to cut their share of revenue into two more pieces of the pie to stick a team back in Sac, or anywhere else when there are so many teams currently on shaky ground.
Re 2, true, the only way they would expand is if the markets they expanded to were positive contributors to the league, and that isn’t Sacramento, it’s not really Seattle. You can argue either one could improve the overall broad appeal of the league.
That said, I just don’t see Seattle getting screwed here, either way, a team is coming. A new arena in this market and Steve Ballmer, whoopee!
There might be active bidding, and it is possible that somebody buys the team and keeps it in Sacto, but that’s just not getting talked about. It will be the top dollar that wins this.
The timing of the VB developments will just come way too late, by like 5 years. The Kings will be sold by then.
Agree Baker…everyone claims that the NBA won’t expand. What they really need to say is that the NBA won’t expand unless it makes the original 30 owners a ton of money.
We’ve broken it down before…say an expansion team brought $450 million…that is a $15 million dollar cash payment right into the owners pockets. Then maybe you negotiate a less than equal share of the next tv contract (like Utah and Colorado with the Pac 12) and things start to not look so bad for expansion.
Everyone has their number…
Welcome to Mexico City.
http://www.nba.com/hornets/news/hornets__play_preseason_game_2012_07_19.html
Commentary: Hansen and Wilson are my MVPs of 2012 (From Q13)
http://bit.ly/12SInnc
In the end the league cant force any owner to sell. but I do think if they cannot get another owner to sell, they will consider expansion, but probably not until 3-4 years from now. didn’t someone say here earlier that Hollinger said that the league is more willing to expand, particularly to Seattle? I do think they will try to get another team to relocate here first. and no, the bucks just signed a 5 year lease to 2017. so its either the Kings, Pacers, or maybe even the Bobcats or Hawks, although the lease in ATL and the fact that MJ owns the Cats will probably work against us there.
“In the end the league cant force any owner to sell.”
Yes they can, for the good of the league. The league is not going to allow teams to continue to operate in a substandard arena while collecting profit sharing funds.
But the league doesn’t have to go that far since they have denied hem a move to Anaheim. What’s left, VB arena that is lacking funds, remodeling the arena they are in with money they do not have, or sell.
The Kings are in a box with few options.
After them you have the Bucks trying to get out of a substandard arena. Talks start on that in March.
Twolves are more likely to solve their arena situation, they have more options.
I haven’t seen anything new on the Pacers. What bothers me, and should bother them, is that the stories tend to just assume that something will get done. Well, people assumed for almost a decade that something would get done in Seattle, then we lost the team.
Technically…I don’t think it would be possible to FORCE a sale. If the Maloofs really wanted to fight it (or wanted to fight to relocate in Anaheim) they could do it…the question is if the Maloofs would have the $$$$s for the long drawn out court case
Myk,
Couldn’t the league just take the franchise away and claim ownership money problems forced them ulimate to do that?
Event then I doubt the maloofs really can afford and all out battle against the NBA in courts.
Plus couldn’t the NBA use the coyotes bankruptcy court case to argue that they have the right to decide where the team ends up. In the coyotes case the judge sided with the NHL pretty much saying the league has the right to decide where teams can relocate to or not thus denying Balsillie the sale of the coyotes who tried to use the courts to bypass league (NHL) rules and move the team to Hamilton Ontario.
I know the kings situation is completely different but still i would think that ruling could still somewhat apply here if the kings were to use the courts to force the NBA to allow a relocation to Anaheim. Of course i could be wrong.
The league does not have an anti trust exemption like MLB so they can’t tell their owners what to do. ..and since the team isn’t bankrupt…no it can’t control where they relocate. Just ask Al Davis and the NFL
The league can place pressure on the franchise and the owners to sell…and they can vote to block a move (which would then push it to court)…so it is really up to how bad the Maloofs want certain scenarios.
They could, it’s risky, so they will not.
NBA Commissioner David Stern said last week that he wouldn’t try to force a sale.
Here Stern says he wouldn’t.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/01/4455052/kings-mired-in-a-maloofs-vs-sacramento.html#storylink=cpy
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/01/4455052/kings-mired-in-a-maloofs-vs-sacramento.html
And here they say they don’t.
NBA officials have said the league and team owners do not have the authority to force ownership change for a team.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/12/4407996/new-kings-ownership-proposed.html#storylink=cpy
Pacers are a dark horse IMO. I heard they need a new subsidy to keep afloat or they can be sold or move next year.
In the end, if the Kings are the only real option for the next 5 years, and the league won’t consider expanding here, then Hansen probably knows that. if that is the case, he may need to go as far as he needs to buy the kings, just like he did with the SCC for the arena deal.
If your hoping for the Pacers don’t plan on next season……
http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/pacers_sign_one_year_lease_extension/
I thought the Bucks just signed a 5 year lease, making them pretty much unavailable to anyone until Sept 2017 (1 month before our 5 year window to get a team expires). I think if no team is relocated here by a certain point in the 5 years, the league may expand here. Of course, while there are so many teams in trouble, the league will try its hardest to relocate a team here. but Stern himself said that he isn’t ruling out expansion for us, and the vibe I got from all the BOG people and Stern when they spoke out last fall, especially the 3-5 year timeline for possible expansion, tells me that. push for a team to relocate here now, and if by the unlikely chance no team comes in say 3 or 4 years, then talk about expansion.
“not ruling out” expansion to me means, “we probably won’t have to because a team will relocate here, but if one doesn’t by a certain time in the 5 years, we will debate expansion then”. of course I’m just reading the tea leaves from what the BOG and Stern said last fall, but that’s how I see it.